The Lives of the Saints

In our day-to-day lives, we are exposed to a myriad of personalities. We work with people, interact with people at the bank, at the grocery, at church and at school. All of these people affect us in some way or another. Imagine if the grocery checker is really grumpy, we will respond to that person in some manner, either rightly or wrongly. And that interaction may affect the rest of our day.

Its sad to say, but most of the people with whom we interact, many of them very nice, are not a godly influence. God has given us the means to deal with situation.

Over the many centuries since the resurrection of Jesus Christ, there have been those people who have completely devoted themselves to serving God. Their lives reflect a love for God and a love for neighbor that is nothing short of amazing. Over time, these people have been recognized as saints. Some explanation is needed so as to rightly understand how this term is to be understood. By the term "saint", we don't mean that they are better than others in some sort of ontological sense. The Orthodox Church does not have a mechanical process for canonization. When someone is officially declared a saint, it is recognition of sainthood, already embraced and believed by a very large number of believers in a number of locations, typically over a long period of time. Sainthood is typically attributed to someone because of their love and wisdom. People will have been flocking to this person during their lifetime for direction and guidance and then after their repose, to their grave, for prayer. Biographies are frequently written about these saints and are widely read.

Thus, the point of this article. As Christians, we ought to be looking to the life example of the saints, for direction in our own lives. We can learn from and imitate these saints, many times those nearly contemporary, by reading their biographies. We are so quick to fill our heads with pop culture news. This is a tragedy that darkens our souls and distracts us from the light and life of the Church. Let us be more familiar with the lives of St Seraphim of Sarov, St Xenia of Petersburg, St Innocent of Alaska or St John Maximovitch rather than with Miley Cyrus or Paul Walker.